Drakonika (Book 1) (26 page)

“
Well, there are many strange creatures living in Aria, but these are considered myths only,” she said, unveiling some Arian knowledge to Magnus as she started browsing her book as well. Then she paused as one of the pages caught her interest. It sounded extremely intriguing.

“
How to recognise a dragon? Dragons are cold blooded creatures that do not have the ability to warm themselves, therefore they need a regular gain of warmth from natural sources like sun rays or fire,”
Maren read quietly. That sounded oddly familiar. She cast a furtive glance at Magnus who was frowning more and more, then she continued  reading, “
There are many kinds of dragons, but most of them can breathe destructive fire and –”
she didn't have the chance to finish that, because the whole book had disappeared from under her nose.

“
This is boring. I want to read about dragons,” Magnus said in an unsatisfied tone, holding Maren's book in his hands. It seemed he didn't like where her thoughts were going.

“
What are you doing? That's mine!” Maren shrieked, trying to take her book away from Magnus, but he was too strong. “Read about your watermen.”

“
No way! You're the one who's going to read about them!” Magnus decided, sliding his book on the table towards her.

“
Absolutely not, it's yours. If it wasn't for me, you wouldn't even have that one,” Maren said curtly. She bashed the book about watermen against Magnus' chest in a way that if he didn't catch it, it would fall on the floor. But she had it back in a second — Magnus put it on her knees and bolted off from the table so that she couldn't give it back. Their attention was had completely drifted away from the book about dragons. On the other hand, they both focused on the one that neither of them wanted.

Maren hated losing. She instantly leaped to her feet, caring only about one thing, and that was getting the book about watermen where it belonged
— to Magnus. In the very next moment, she managed to drop it behind his tunic.

“
No!” Magnus moaned, trying to get the book out.

For a short while, Maren's face lightened up with a victorious sneer, but it didn't last for long.

Magnus brought her down with all his weight, waving the book in front of her eyes. She pushed it away fiercely, but when she looked at him, her face turned red. “What are you doing?”

“
I don't know,” Magnus said, looking rather confused.

There was an awkward moment of silence in which they just gazed into each other's eyes. Then they suddenly heard approaching voices.

Maren quickly pushed him away, but before they could get up, the door banged open. They both froze with a mortified look.

Elmar and Lars, Magnus' two house mates, gaped at them with uncertain expressions. Unable to say  anything at the moment, the only thing they could do was exchange stunned looks, as if they wanted to make sure they really saw what they saw.

Although Magnus and Maren were just playing, they both briskly leapt to their feet. Magnus gave a false cough, swaying nervously on the spot.

“
We were just studying,” he said swiftly, raising the book about watermen higher to show them he wasn't lying. Although it was impossible for the two boys not to see what they were doing when they opened the door, naive smiles appeared on their faces.

Maren and Magnus could finally breathe.

“Perfect, can we join you?” said Elmar eagerly. Neither of the two boys waited for an answer. They bounded in and settled down in front of the fireplace.

“
Of course,” Magnus said, happy that they both took the bait. He joined them along with Maren who was finally able to grab the book about dragons.

Elmar's face brightened up even more.

“Did you know? Aedan said that those who fail the test today would have to clean all our houses. Wash the linens, sweep the dust, clean the floors and windows and shoo all the spiders out,” he said with great enthusiasm in his voice, as if he was sure it wouldn't happen to him. “Everyone will hand over the books from the Mages Guild and write a summary from what they have learned,” he said, his eyes gleaming with joy.

Maren and Magnus exchanged unbelieving looks. How could he consider studying so exciting? But then they finally realised what he had said. A TEST!

“How much time do we have?” Maren said swiftly so they wouldn't lose another second with pointless chit-chat.

Lars' dishevelled head looked in the window's direction to see the approximate position of the sun, but no sun rays reached the room because the houses and lanes were too squished together.

“According to the light outside... I reckon, probably... well...” Lars said in uncertain tone, taking his time.

“
How much time?!” Magnus repeated Maren's question impatiently.

“
Well... about... an hour,” Lars said calmly. Obviously, he and Elmar had already spent some time studying.

“
WHAT?!” Maren and Magnus cried, totally flushed with panic. They immediately opened their books and started skimming through them so fiercely, it was a wonder they didn't tear the pages.

“
Quickly, quickly!” Maren screamed shrilly, as though her life was in grave danger. “So Dragons — many kinds, cold blooded, the ability to breathe fire. Most of them have huge strong wings, can fly, blah blah blah,” she was reading aloud, pointing her finger at the words.

“
Waterman — the spirit of water embodied, legends about them can be found anywhere near water areas,” Magnus said, looking into his book.

“
Save other things, dragons have also great abilities in magick and telepathy,” Maren continued, her hands shaking.

“
According to folk demonology, the waterman is a fallen angel who had been dropped into water when rejected from Heaven,” Magnus said, then he paused and remained in thought for a while. “What is Heaven?” he asked, but his friends were busy with their own studies. “Sheesh, I'm in bigger trouble than I thought,” he muttered as his eyes darted back into the pages of his book at once.

“
Dragons are noted for their enormous strength, hard bones, claws and fangs,” Maren said quietly, shivering all over.

“
Watermen are generally malevolent beings who enjoy causing harm to humans and they drown inexperienced swimmers in order to get their souls.”

Maren stopped reading for a moment, listening to Magnus' words.

“They can easily turn into the shape of any animal, item or even the water breeze itself. They control the water life and they often send a golden fish to the lakeside in order to lure a person in,” Magnus kept reading, sounding more and more frantic. “To make his magick work, he needs at least a drop of water. He is strongest in his element. If he begins to dry, he weakens very quickly. Among all things, he enjoys catching spirits of young girls the most.” At these words, Magnus paused. His frightened gaze met Maren's which didn't look any calmer.

“
Fjalldís!” he shouted. In less than a minute they were both ready to bolt out, leaving bewildered Lars and Elmar to study alone.

XIII. Damsel in Distress

The day was slowly nearing its end. Golden sun rays slid across the rooftops of Ragnan houses, throwing webs of shadows into the streets and lanes. The tall walls and the entrance gate played their role in this light-play as well.

Eagle and Jackal were impatiently waiting for the tower at the main square to chime eight o'clock. They couldn't wait to get out of the place where they spent thirteen hours every day. It was the stony arch of the town gate which was also the only place where they could find some retreat from the warmest days.

While Eagle was leaning against the wall in the passage, looking utterly bored and silently enduring the last minutes of his duty, Jackal's nerves couldn't stand it any more, so he had found something with which to pass his time. It was quite a while since he had started counting the stone blocks of the passage arch.

“One hundred an' forty four, one hundred an' forty five, one hundred an' forty... seven,” he kept counting blankly.

Eagle cast him a grumpy look, fed up with Jackal's mumbling. But his colleague didn't pay it any attention and the babbling continued.

“One hundred an' forty six, one hundred an' forty eight, one hundred an' forty... seven,” Jackal counted on, his eyes sliding from the top of the arch. But before he could reach the bottom, his gaze landed on Eagle's worn helmet. He frowned and took a deep breath, doing his best to remember the last number he had counted. “One hundred an' fifty nine... one hundred an' fifty nine...”  Jackal said in a greatly focused voice, repeating it at least six times. Then he finally shot Eagle a furious stare. “Eagle, ge' out of ma' way. Can't keep countin',” he said insolently.

As an answer to Jackal's comment, there was a blunt sound of hands gloved in leather and steel, clapping slowly. “Bravo, Jackal, bravo. I didn't know you could count,” Eagle said pointedly, but Jackal didn't seem to get the joke. His face reflected great pride.

“There still many things yeh dunno 'bout meh,” he bragged.

Eagle couldn't help letting out a snigger as he was looking at his worn steel boots, shaking his head in disbelief.

“You know, while you were counting the stone blocks on the wall, I was counting all the mistakes that you made. There were exactly sixty three of them.”

It seemed his partner didn't believe one word of what Eagle claimed to have witnessed. Jackal waved his hand carelessly as he wanted to continue counting, but then his eyes bulged in dismay. Not only had he forgotten where he was in his counting, he also forgot how many blocks he had already counted! When Eagle finally looked up, Jackal was in a very bad state.

“To the Darkest Pit with yeh, Eagle!” Jackal blurted out, his voice skipping. He jerked his helmet off with one fierce move and kicked a small stone out of the town gate.

Jackal was going crazy from anger, but Eagle didn't care. He wouldn't let such unimportant things taint his peace. Just the opposite
— he remained absolutely calm.

“
Listen, Jackal — You shouldn't be taking your helmet off, we're still on duty,” Eagle advised him.

“
Why should I care?!” Jackal snapped, still facing the dusty road outside of the town. “Yeh scared o' wha'? We leavin' shortly. An' yeh kno' wha'? Screw 'is 'elmet!” he said angrily as he kicked his helmet away with all his strength. Then he clapped to sweep dust off his gloves, as though he had gotten rid of a heavy burden. But not even the fresh, gentle breeze seemed to cool his head enough.

“
Finally. Yeh kno',” Jackal started derisively. “We even. Yeh didn't kno' I could count an' I didn't kno' that yeh such a chicken,” he said, clearly enjoying himself. “What did yeh think? That they'd come check on us? C'mon, Eagle, yeh kno' they don't care. No one will eva' come check on us, only a Saint ghost,” Jackal preached, but as he rounded back on Eagle, he swayed so much that he almost fell off his feet.

“
Uh, good evening, Sir,” Jackal stuttered in fear. Seeing the grim face of the General Xanthar, he could only hope he wouldn't lose his head soon. This was exactly what everyone hated about Xanthar the most — he always appeared out of nowhere like a wraith, without any warning.

“
Unfortunately for you, I am not a Saint,” Xanthar said in an unimpressed tone and as he strolled past Jackal, he shot him a long, tough gaze.

Jackal's knees trembled. Eagle's mocking snickering didn't exactly help him calm down, but he seemed to be relieved that the general was now gazing in a completely different direction.

“You two are lucky that no one wants this lousy job, otherwise I would have already found a replacement,” Xanthar said flatly, watching the tree tops basking in the golden sunlight. Then his gaze landed on the helmet lying in the grass near the town gate and Jackal froze in fear. But it seemed that the general was in a good mood so he decided to overlook that simple mistake. “Actually, I have a job for you,” he continued, giving them a significant look. “Finally you will have a chance to prove yourselves useful.”

That seemed to have gained the attention of the guards completely. A chance to prove themselves useful? That was an opportunity to show that they were the best guards ever! And moreover,
there was a possibility they would be promoted.

Xanthar paced before them slowly, then he stopped again.

“Come to my office tomorrow after work,” he said with the faintest sneer on his face. “If everything goes as planned, we might finally catch that little scrub off guard.”

It seemed the time for revenge had finally come
— and they were certainly going to enjoy it. Eagle stood straight in attention, his arms pinned to his sides. Jackal immediately copied Eagle's posture like a trained monkey.

“
As you command, Sir!” Eagle said with acted loyalty in his voice.

It seemed Xanthar would finally leave, when he suddenly stopped, his nose wrinkled in disgust.

“And change your shirts before you step into my office,” he said as he gave them a scornful look.

“
Y-yes, Sir!” Jackal shouted, trying to sound better than Eagle.

“
Actually, change everything,” Xanthar added. Then he suddenly vanished from their sight, right in front of their eyes. After all, invisibility was one of his favourite spells.

There was no telling if the general was still there or he had already left. Eagle shot his colleague an angry look.

“Great, now I won't get a promotion just because
you
stink,” he said hatefully as though it was all Jackal's fault. Clearly, he hoped that Xanthar could still hear it.

*

The lake in the woods near Sinei had company that day. Fjalldís was sitting in the grass nearby, her long black skirt folded around her. Every now and then, she gave a long, sad sigh.

“
I don't understand why I have been sent here. I don't have any exceptional abilities,” she mumbled under her nose in a downcast tone, completely ignoring the fact that she was able to cast a spell that other novices had not even heard of yet. She was playing with a small pebble that she held in her fingers. “Magnus has better company than me. Nobody wants to talk to me or play with me, I'm such an outsider,” she said out loud, even though she was completely alone. It sounded as if it was impossible to be friends with Magnus since there was another girl around him already. “I'm like a fifth wheel on the cart.” Giving another moan, she fell silent and remained in thought for a while.

“
Perhaps... Darius?” she asked herself in hope, but then she immediately shook her head in rejection. “No, he's vile. And I don't think his band likes me very much,” she said disappointedly, throwing the pebble into the water. She gave another painful sigh.

As she was watching the glittering water surface, she saw a blinding ray of light coming from the reeds. Fjalldís narrowed her eyes, but she couldn't tell what it was. She remained watching it for a while in hesitation, but when she saw movement, she leaped to her feet.

“H-hello? Anyone there?” she said in a terrified tone. In that moment, she had completely forgotten that she wanted to become a warrior. She carefully edged closer to the light, hardly daring to breathe. After a while she found a small mirror and — a cute young foal!

Fjalldís' dark blue eyes opened wide. That was the last thing she expected to find here!

“You're so pretty,” she said with a gentle smile. It appeared the foal wasn't afraid at all — he even let her pet his snout. Then she got an idea.

“
Let's see if my animal communication abilities are as good as Magnus',” she said, sounding a little brighter. “Pony, where did you come from?”

It appeared her abilities worked. As a reaction to her question, the foal shook his dark-maned head and with a slow canter he stepped forward. Fjalldís beamed with joy
— she did it! As she followed the foal in excitement, she had completely forgotten all her problems. It appeared there was nothing missing in her life at that moment.

The light pace of the foal led her deeper and deeper into the forest behind the lake. She was far away from Sinei now. But when the amount of gnats and humidity increased, fear had tainted her peace.

“Hey, where are you leading me?” she said in a highly concerned voice, looking around cautiously. The fragrant green forest had gradually changed into dark spooky woods with trees that were either dead or dying and tall grass of dull colours creeping out of the mossy ground. The smell of this place wasn't any better than its appearance. It seemed that even the sun itself was trying to avoid it.

As she breathed the stench, her right foot slipped into a thick layer of mud. Now she finally realised what this place was. It was a vast, dank marsh!

It appeared getting out wouldn't be as easy as getting in. As she pulled one leg out of the mud, the other one slid down. As she sunk deeper into the swamp, she understood that she had run into some serious trouble. It was hard to tell what was water and what was land, as they mixed under the  and grass and even the water surface itself was encrusted with algae. The sweet little foal was now only watching her with his huge innocent eyes and did nothing to lead her out of there.

“
Help me out! Help!” Fjalldís cried, but her animal communication seemed to have failed completely now. She tried everything, but no matter what she did, she was only sinking deeper into the swamp. Her feet slipped on the unstable bottom and she was getting entangled by the water plants from below. It was certain that now she deeply regretted going anywhere alone without even telling Aedan about it. Her mind was full of thoughts in that moment — thoughts that you would only have before your death.

She held her chin above the mud, ready to breathe in for the last time, when a pair of dirty black boots emerged right in front of her eyes.

“Magnus...?” Fjalldís whispered, reaching out. But as soon as the boy took a firm grasp of her hand, she understood it wasn't the one she had hoped for. He was wearing black gloves. Fjalldís looked up and her eyes met the boy's steel-blue ones, gazing at her from the edge of the muddy lake.

“
Hold on, I'll get you out,” Darius said confidently, but the tone of his voice suggested that he understood the seriousness of the situation.

Destiny arranged that the person Fjalldís had accused of being vile would be the one to help her. She held onto his arm as tightly as she could. The sleeve of his beloved black jacket got completely dirty, but he didn't seem to mind at all.

Darius pulled with all his strength, but it was harder than he thought. His boots were slipping on the wet soil and apparently, something was holding Fjalldís by her feet. After a long struggle it seemed he would finally get her out, but then Fjalldís shrieked in horror. Darius' focus was distracted and he had loosened his grip — the cute foal had changed into a dreadful green monster resembling a large frog. Or was it a man?

Darius froze. He had never seen anything like that in his entire life. As he remained in shock, the monster pushed him into the muddy swamp with a malicious laughter and he fell right next to Fjalldís, his head first.

Seconds later, Darius emerged, gasping above the surface and it seemed that now they would both need someone to rescue them. He swept the mud off his eyes with difficulty. It was hard to believe that his hair was light just seconds ago.

“
You okay?” Fjalldís squealed in a shaking voice, reaching her arm towards him.

“
Not quite,” Darius said, still rubbing the mud off his face with one hand. He cast the green monster a hateful look, but that didn't seem to scare it. Quite the opposite — the large frogman gave a malevolent chuckle.

“
And I've got you both,” said the monster delightedly, spitting water from his wide slimy mouth. “As soon as you drown, I'll capture your little souls into my cup.” A wide grin broke across his ugly face as he waved an old worn cup with a lid before their eyes. Who knows how many souls he had already captured in there!

Fjalldís and Darius stopped moving their legs, but they were still sinking rapidly. This was the second time they got into trouble together the very same day
— first time it was because of him and now because of her. But even in that moment, neither of them could believe what they just saw. Could it by any chance be... a waterman?!